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11 August 2010

By David KEssen


A BUSINESSMAN who rented out his Doncaster warehouse to cannabis growers after he fell on hard times has had his jail term cut by top judges.
London's Criminal Appeal Court heard 59-year-old Chung Yan Chan allowed drug producers to use the warehouse - in which they grew more than
1 million of skunk cannabis - after his noodle production company failed following flooding.

Chan, of Sheff
ield Road, Conisbrough, was jailed for five years at Doncaster Crown Court on March 5 after he admitted allowing premises to be used for drug production.

But Appeal Court judges have now reduced his sentence to three-and-a-half years after ruling the original term was too long.

Mr Justice King, sitting with Lord Justice Laws and Mr Justice McCombe, told the court Chan was arrested after police executed a warrant at a warehouse he owned in June last year.

The court heard that, inside, police found 5,500 plants which had a potential street value of more than
1million.

Chan's bungalow overlooked the warehouse and electricity and water from his home had been diverted to the cannabis factory.

The court heard Chan had run a noodle production business, but accrued debts of more than
25m after his business collapsed following flooding - which destroyed stock and machinery for which he was not insured.

Mr Justice King said a restaurant Chan was running stopped trading in March 2009. By then was in "considerable financial trouble".

Chan said he was approached by two Chinese men who said they wanted to rent the warehouse as storage. He claimed he knew nothing more about it.

Mr Justice King said Chan probably knew more about what was going on in his warehouse that he admitted, but accepted he may not have been aware of the full scale of the factory, and was concerned for his and his family's safety.

The
10,000 he was paid in rent for the warehouse was confiscated as proceeds of criminal conduct.

Lawyers acting for Chan argued his jail term did not reflect the offence he admitted, as he wasn't involved in organisation or production of the cannabis.

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